


honestly, you can take it home

by padfootprophet



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Sharing Clothes, that's the entire premise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-13
Updated: 2019-08-13
Packaged: 2020-08-20 21:24:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20234611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/padfootprophet/pseuds/padfootprophet
Summary: "Hey," he says, tugging the material in his hand, "This is mine.""Oh," Sora says, cheeks tinging pink as he blinks rapidly at Riku, "Sorry. You left it at mine when you crashed the other night and I didn't even think when I put it on this morning."ORSora keeps stealing Riku's clothes and it's driving him to distraction.





	honestly, you can take it home

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Bukowski by Moose Blood. This was a total spur of the moment bit of writing, I hope you enjoy :)

Riku sips at the last remnants of his coffee. It's going cold, only bitter dregs remaining, but it helps him clear his mind, focus on the essay he's supposed to be writing rather than his wandering thoughts and the way they're pulled across the table from him. A few more words turn into sentences across the page before he relents again and glances up at Sora sat opposite him frowning slightly at his stats worksheet, face half buried in the hoodie he's wearing, which is _definitely_ one of Riku's. Riku tries to track back to when he last saw it, when he might have given it to Sora, but comes up blank, which means the other boy took it of his own accord.

Riku must have been gazing openly for too long because there's a sharp nudge in his side courtesy of Kairi's elbow. "You haven't written enough to be daydreaming," she whispers to him.

"I'm not-" Riku starts, but the half formed protest dies under Kairi's piercing gaze. He lets out a sigh and lowers his voice so that it won't carry as far as Sora. "That's my hoodie," he says, tilting his head to the other side of the table.

Kairi glances over at Sora, still so focused in his work he hasn't noticed the whispered conversation happening across from him, then looks back to Riku. "So what?" she asks.

Riku sighs again. Kairi has always been perceptive and he's always been transparent. The fondness he feels at seeing Sora sunk in a hoodie two sizes too big for him, tracing out the lines of equations on the page in front of him, hair messy, eyes bright, is nothing new. The almost possessive pride he feels at Sora wearing something of his is newer, if not surprising. "I didn't give it to him," Riku says at length.

Riku's lent him clothes before: coats and jackets when they've been spending time together and it's gotten late and cold and neither had noticed until Sora opened the door; full outfits when they were younger and adventured into the woods only to tumble back to Riku's parents' house coated in mud. Sora taking something of his own accord, for no reason Riku could see, had caught him off guard.

Kairi scoffs lightly next to him. "If it bothers you," she whispers, "I'm sure he'd give it back."

Which is not really something Riku wants, but makes it clear Kairi thinks Riku is overthinking things, and a sign he should get on with the work he came to the library to do. An endeavour that sees some success, between stolen glances at Sora, still completely absorbed with his own work.

At least until he leans back with an explosive sigh. "I can't look at stats anymore," he says, loudly enough that the girl sat a table over glares at him and he shrinks in on himself with a sheepish smile. Quieter, he asks, "Snack run?"

Kairi waves him off, eyes not leaving the screen where she's working on her own essay. "I'm in the middle of my point," she mutters.

Sora shrugs and turns his attention to Riku instead, who's faced with the full force of a smile he never learnt to say no to. "Sure," he says instead. The smile grows even wider as Sora scrapes his chair back loudly earning another glare and a noise of irritation from the girl a table over. He ignores it though, already headed for the exit and leaving Riku scrambling slightly to catch up.

They hurry from the library building to the union, Sora tugging the hoodie tightly around himself to fight of the chill of the breeze. It's only early November, but Radiant Garden gets winters far colder than the islands ever did.

They reach the shelter of the union building and Sora jumps a few times to warm back up. Riku nudges him gently. "You sure you need snacks? You seem to have enough energy."

Sora shrugs, "Nah, but I needed a break from equations, and you looked like you could use a distraction." Riku can't contain the snort of laughter. He'd been plenty distracted, he just hopes Sora hadn't caught the drifting stares. Sora nudges him lightly, a smaller smile playing across his face. "Come on, you can get some more coffee," he says.

He pulls away but before he can get more than a couple of steps Riku pulls him back with a hand against his sleeve. "Hey," he says, tugging the material in his hand, "This is mine."

"Oh," Sora says, cheeks tinging pink as he blinks rapidly at Riku, "Sorry. You left it at mine when you crashed the other night and I didn't even think when I put it on this morning."

Which explained why Riku couldn't remember when Sora had gotten hold of it. Hayner had thrown a party and Riku had made the mistake of agreeing to competitive drinking with Roxas. It had been not-so-friendly and left Riku with hazed memories and an awful headache. He frowns slightly. "Didn't I throw up on that?" he asks.

Sora laughs, lifting the arm Riku wasn't holding and rubbing the back of his neck. "I washed it!" he responds. He moves back a step, and Riku resists the urge to follow, uncurling his fingers instead and letting Sora go. Sora smiles, but looks away in slight embarrassment. "I can give it back to you."

"It's fine," Riku says, quicker than necessary, before covering up his desperation with a crooked smile. "It's almost winter and I know you didn't pack enough warm clothes."

"Hey!" Sora protests, but his expression falls into a smile again, and he meets Riku's gaze when he concedes, "You're right though, I'd just end up needing to borrow it anyway."

x

Sora seems to take Riku's agreeability as an open invitation to raid his wardrobe and take what he likes. Not that it isn't, or that Riku minds, except it's starting to drive him to distraction. They're supposed to be watching movies together but where Sora is sprawled out across Riku's bed, eyes glued to the laptop screen sitting at the end, Riku keeps watching him instead. Gaze tracking over the swoop of collarbone where Riku's t-shirt is almost falling off his shoulder, or the socked feet barely peeking out from the cuffs of his sweatpants.

It's not as though the outfit is different from a normal movie night: their sizes are not so disparate that Sora's usual oversized tee and PJ pants fit him any differently, it's only Riku's awareness that has changed. Mostly the awareness he won't be able to wear those clothes again without thinking of Sora.

He tries to put it out of mind, focusing on bites of popcorn, laughing at the right moments in what they're watching, and not letting his thoughts wander to Sora too much. It doesn't help when Sora's attention to the movie turns from _rapt_ to _sleepy_ and his head falls against Riku's leg as he yawns.

"We could turn the movie off," Riku suggests quietly when it doesn't look like Sora's in a hurry to move.

Sora shakes his head slowly, groggily replying with, "We're watching it."

"Oh?" Riku says, "Are you sure you're not just watching the back of your eyelids?" He shifts his leg slightly, not enough to dislodge Sora, just enough to jostle him.

Sora turns with a mock glare, somewhat ruined by the appearance of another yawn. "Fine," he says, pulling himself upright and off the bed, moving around the room in search of something.

"Where are you going?" Riku asks, tracing Sora's movements.

"Home, to sleep," Sora replies simply. Riku frowns. It's not that Sora lives any particular distance, or that it's a bad idea for him to go back to his, but it's also not unheard of for Sora to sleep here. Normally it's because he actually falls asleep during a movie and Riku doesn't have the heart to wake him, although really it's because Riku selfishly wants him to stay.

"Just stay here," he says, "It's late and you're tired."

Sora stops searching for his belongings. "You sure?" he asks.

Riku nods, and moves to close his laptop, transferring it from the end of the bed to his bedside table, he doesn't look at Sora when he says, "Yeah, stay."

Sora hesitates a moment before relenting and dropping back down next to Riku, shuffling until there's barely an inch of space between them anywhere. Riku swallows as he pulls the blankets over them both, and catches his hand against the shirt Sora's wearing. "Besides," he says, "You're wearing half my shit, I can't just let you walk off with it."

"I could take it off," Sora suggests. Riku's brain struggles between a desperate yes and a fraught no and he bites his tongue before he says something horribly incriminating. Sora's brain seems to catch up with his mouth and he flushes, eyes wide and says, "And put my hoodie back on. I came in a hoodie. One of mine, not yours."

Riku scoffs slightly, hoping he can cut Sora off before this conversation leaves him any more flustered and rolls over so he can avoid looking at Sora whilst he calms his own blush. "Go to sleep, Sora," he says.

"Right," Sora says, his voice suddenly far more subdued. "Good night, Riku."

x

November rolls forward and Sora, underprepared for the winter or maybe just looking to torture Riku, raids his closet with increasing frequency. Hoodies, jumpers, and jackets all get added to Sora's winter wardrobe until Riku can't avoid wearing them anymore, coming into lectures wearing something Sora had on just yesterday, unsure whether he wants people to notice or not. Kairi notices, but true to her usual style of being done with Riku's bullshit, doesn't react at all.

It doesn't matter outside of Riku's mind until the point Sora winds up with his yellow scarf, which asides from being his favourite, is the only one wearable since he spilt coffee all over his blue one and hadn't managed to get the stains out. In the end he pulls the zip on his hoodie all the way up and tries to bury his face in the collar to avoid freezing his nose.

Sora, once Riku finds him, looks sheepish enough that Riku's annoyance falls away.

"Sorry," Sora says, unwinding the scarf from around his neck and holding it out to Riku. "I thought you had another one."

Riku doesn't take it. "It's fine," he says, "I'll just get a new one from the union shop."

Sora frowns, uncertainty crossing his features. "I'm the one who didn't buy any winter clothes." When Riku still doesn't take the scarf Sora leans up with a huff and wraps it around Riku's neck for him. "Don't be stubborn, I can buy a scarf," he says, smiling with something close to fond exasperation.

Riku freezes, overwhelmed by Sora leaning close to him, hands brushing his hair out of the way of the scarf, and his scent lingering on the material. He shuts down the urge to reciprocate somehow and moves back a step instead. "Fine," he says, half turning before he adds, "I'll see you later, Sora."

He barely makes it three steps before Sora's hand wraps around his wrist drawing him to a halt. "I said I was sorry," Sora says.

Riku turns back to Sora, who no longer exasperated just looks a little sad. "I know," Riku says, his own face pulling into a frown.

"Then why are you mad at me?"

Riku blinks at him. "I'm not mad at you."

"Yes, you are!" Sora insists. "You do this thing when you're mad at me where you get all…" he gestures vaguely in Riku's direction, before he sighs and with a shrug says, "dismissive. You just close off and I can't work out what I'm doing wrong."

_Oh_, Riku thinks. "I'm not mad at you," he says, and before he can psyche himself out he adds quietly, "I'm mad at myself."

Sora, still looking sad, but not so desperate with it, blinks at him. "Why?" he asks.

Riku knows the answer but he can't bring himself to actually talk about it. He twists his hands around the strap of his messenger bag. "Because I'm selfish," he says, "Especially around you. And I shouldn't be, because you're not…" He trails off, gaze falling down to the fabric wound between his fists.

Sora steps into his space again, close enough that even if he can avoid Sora's face he can't avoid looking at him entirely. "I'm selfish too Riku. I…" Sora mutters, a quiet confession half formed. With a slightly frustrated noise he starts talking again. "I could have gone and bought some new clothes but you make me feel safe and I wanted to have that with me, I guess. But if it makes you uncomfortable…"

Riku shakes his head, glances up into Sora's earnest face then away again. "It's different," he says, voice low but more steady than he feels, "You're not in love with me."

Sora doesn't say anything. He stares at Riku, lips parted in a look of surprise that would have made Riku laugh if he didn't feel so wretched. He shakes his head again, prepared to leave Sora with his thoughts and Riku's confession, but doesn't take half a step before Sora's hands shoot up, grasping at the scarf and drawing Riku short.

"Why…" Sora starts, voice barely more than a breath. He swallows, Riku following the motion of it, before trying again. "Why didn't you say something?" he asks.

Riku lets out a breath he'd hardly been aware he was holding and tries to come up with a good answer, an excuse that doesn't sound contrived. Sora seems uninterested in any kind of answer though. He tugs Riku closer by the grip on his scarf, and raises up to his tiptoes placing his lips within an inch of Riku's own.

The slight puff of air against his lips overwhelms Riku all over again, but this time, instead of pulling away he leans into it, leans into Sora. Their lips meet briefly, Sora wobbles slightly, and Riku puts steadying hands against his waist, a little uncertain now that he's here.

Sora pulls back for a beat, not far enough to be retreating, but enough to search Riku's eyes. "I've wanted to do this since I was like… fifteen," he says, a little breathless.

Riku chuckles, feels the reflection of his own breath against Sora's face, and leans his forehead against Sora's. "I was awful at that age, why would you even consider it?"

Sora let out a laugh of his own, face breaking into a real smile for the first moment since they'd started talking, "You thought you were so cool. I just thought you were pretty."

Riku laughs again, overflowing with joy and love and with nowhere to direct it except into another kiss: less nervous, and more certain of himself than he'd been in years. Sora responds in kind, hesitation replaced with surety, and the slight bitter sadness replaced with a radiant joy.


End file.
